Reminiscences on those days when they dated! They were young and carefree. Trevor was on his way up the ladder in the challenging real estate portfolio. He had been fresh from high school when he had stumbled upon a clerical post with a real estate portfolio. He decided to date a collage of lectures. That meant he faced a battery of examinations, lessons, practical on the job training and hard work. These came between him and his favourite pursuits. The number of times the board allows rewrites is limited. Qualification opens avenues to better remuneration, commission, status and possible partnership. He likes his beer, sports and fraternizing with the gentry who watch live EPL/ESPN soccer, play boozers soccer, tee off at the greens and try their hand when silver at dicing with the basket or volleyball. Then he met Naomi by a freak accident. A day when everything was going wrong is the day he met her. A day he should have been bitterly embarrassed is the day she rescued him. She appeared so cute and innocent, like a moth approaching a flame. She has the temper of a wounded she-leopard and the looks of Jezebel. His spiritual knees buckle. His mouth stays agape. His eyes lose focus when he sees her. To him she is an open sesame password to marital bliss. He has never bothered chasing after the ladies. He could easily have married the girl next door or his parents' friends' daughters. Is it all that fast and easy? They both share being children of immigrants. He wants to break the yoke of working in the mines. He has watched retired mine workers survive on stipends. Society looks down upon immigrant labour from whose pool he was born. They both want to beat the status quo and sink prejudice. It is an uphill battle. Will they grab the limelight?

Lake Of My Heart

1. (a)mainini younger sister of one’s mother/wife or a maternal uncle’s daughter 


3. ambuya grandmother and mother-in-law [with a deep emphasis of ‘mbu’] 


6. Chivake River 50-km north east of Harare near Murehwa is the site of the country’s worst bus accidents (then) where 78 people perished after a bus burst it’s tyre on 24/11/1989 


9. doba-doba slow pick and drop/start and stop 


11. Ek hou van jou I love you (Afrikaans) 


12. Government of National Unity almost time when the US$ was introduced, this ran for 5 years (almost) 


15. ke a go rata Tswana for “I love you” 


18. matohwe fruit which gets sticky when chewed 


derogatory term for people of Malawi descent taken from the word Blantyre 


23. Pfumvu paruzevha woe in the rural areas 


 thick porridge [made of maize, sorghum, rapoko, millet etc.] 


 one married to one’s sister or vice versa 


4. alipo munthu pano olankhula chizungu? – 


 Is there anyone here who speaks English? 


10. Chonde ndilondoleleni ku Nyanja ya - 


13. dzina lanu ndiani what’s your name? 


25. ndimukukonda/ndimakukondaninso i love you 


27. zikomo kwambili thank you very much 


 one who is never late/lagging behind/always on top of the situation 


6. njemakati a woman from whom the (lozi) kingdom originates 


the ceremony of moving from floodplains to higher ground yearly by a Lozi chief 


Lake Of My Heart - Chapter 33 - Glossary of Terms